Mincing machines



Feb. 3, 1970 3. MANTELET 3,493,022

' mmcme MACHINES Filed May 16, 1966 Y 4 Sheets-Sheet'l Awe-N704 JEANMaw-457 Feb. 3, 1970 J. MANTELET MINCING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledMay 16, 1966 m m V y J54 Mmvrasr ,4 rrya.

Feb. 3, 1970 J. MANTELET MINCING MACHINES 4 -SheeiLs-Sheet 3 Filed May16, 1966 J54 M/f/VTELET United States Patent Int. 01.13025 13/18, 13/31US. Cl. 146-68 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mincing machine hasan upright spindle on which is mounted a hub that carries the blades.The hub is formed as a single component of plastic molded about theinner ends of the blades. The motor is housed in a lateral extension ofthe casing and is disposed with its axis horizontal. A removable coverhas a lower skirt that fits into an annular recess to close twodiametrically opposed switches in series. Springs resist the movement ofthe cover skirt into this recess with a force greater than the weight ofthe cover, so that as a safety feature, the operator must press down onthe closed cover to actuate the mincer.

This invention relates to mincing machines, and more particularly todomestic mincers for finely dividing foodstuffs such as meat, fish,hard-boiled eggs, cheese, vegetables or seasoning herbs.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a small compactmincer suitable for domestic use which is more convenient and safer touse, easier to clean, and more effective and reliable in operation thanmincers known hitherto.

According to the present invention, a mincing machine comprises aworking bowl of generally cylindrical shape closed by a removable coverand supported on a stand containing a driving assembly, the outputspindle of which passes through the central area of the bottom of thebowl and drives in rotation a hub within the bowl carrying one or moresuitably sharpened blades, the blade-carrier hub being drivinglyconnected to the driving spindle by helical splines on the lateralsurface of the spindle engaging with correspondingly shaped clearancegrooves in the surface of a central bore of the hub, the pitch of thesaid splines and grooves being selected such that one rotation of thespindle in its normal direction of rotation fully engages the splines inthe grooves.

Since the blade-carrier hub is fitted on the driving shaft onlv. it caneasily'be removed for cleaning purposes, and replaced in position by asimple movement. During the latter operation the hub need not be pushedhome on the spindle since, by virtue of the inclination of the couplingramps, this hub automatically engages correctly on the ramps as soon asthe appliance is started. In addition, the risk of the blade-carrier hubslipping off the driving spindle during the operation of the applianceis minimised.

Equally in order to facilitate cleaning of the appliance after use, theinvention makes provision for the working bowl to be removably mountedon the stand. To this end, the driving spindle passes freely through acentral hole in the bottom of the bowl, whilst the stand has a housingor seat which removes the bowl in such a manner that centering of thebowl relative to the said spindle is ensured.

The bowl is thus merely placed on the stand, and can be removed andreplaced in position by a simple movement.

To facilitate removal and refitting in position of the blade-carrierhub, the invention equally makes provision for this hub to have anupwardly directed projection by 3,493,022 Patented Feb. 3, 1970 whichthe hub may be grasped without the risk of the operator injuring hishands on the blades.

For the purpose of improving the safety of the appliance in operation,the invention further makes provision for the driving assembly to remaininoperative if the cover is not applied to the bowl; i.e., in the caseof an electrically operated machine the electrical supply to the drivingassembly is interrupted by suitable means thereby obviating the risk ofthe blades causing injury to the operator during their rotation.

In one preferred embodiment, which is electrically driven, the supplycircuit of the driving assembly includesin seriesat least onepressure-operated switch the actuating means of which is housed in thebottom of an upwardly open cavity wrought in the stand and sufiicientlynarrow and deep to prevent any direct operation of the means by theoperator, but arranged to receive a projection on the cover which isadapted to engage in the said cavity and to operate the said actuatingmeans when the cover is applied on the bowl.

The cavity housing the switch preferably also contains at least oneresilient element to exert an upward thrust on the projection on thecover, the stiffness of this element being such that the actuating meanscannot be operated by the weight of the cover alone when the latter isplaced on the appliance.

In order to ensure the starting of the appliance, a certain pressuremust be exerted on the cover in position on the bowl of the appliance.One thus has the assurance that before the device is started, the coverwill be firmly held on the bowl and will thus be prevented from beinghurled upwards during operation owing to impact against the inner faceof the cover of the substances contained in the bowl.

In order that the invention may be fully understood, various embodimentsin accordance therewith will now be described, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a domestic mincer of the invention in verticalsection along the broken line II of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the mincer after removal of the cover;

FIG. 3 is a partial vertical section along the line III- III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial vertical section of the stand along the line IVIV ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a partial vertical section of the appliance without the lid,in which the blade-carrier hub has been illustrated uncoupled from itsdriving spindle and the bowl lifted off the stand;

FIG. 6 illustrates a variant embodiment of the cover, in which it formsa mould intended to shape croquettes from the substance minced;

FIG. 7 illustrates the working bowl in the case in which it forms acroquette mould itself.

Referring to the drawings, these show an electrically operated mincercomprising a working bowl 10 of generally cylindrical shape closed by aremovable cover 12 and carried on a stand 14 containing a driving ormotor assembly 16 whose vertical output spindle 18 traverses the centralarea of the bottom 20 of the bowl and within this bowl.drives inrotation a hub 22 carrying two blades 24 and 26 which are parallel tothe bottom of the bowl and are suitably sharpened.

The bottom 20 of the bowl has a wide central hole 28 (FIG. 5) throughwhich passes freely the driving spindle 18, and the stand 14 has ahousing 30 formed by a cylindrical wall or enclosure 32 which receivesthe bowl and ensures its centering relative to the spindle 18 as well asits retention against any angular displacement. As is more clearlyapparent from FIG. 5, the coupling between L6 blade-carrier hub 22 andthe driving spindle 18 is 'oduced by means of inclined ramps or fins 34wrought 1 the lateral surface of the spindle, on which are entged with aclearance correspondingly inclined grooves S wrought in the lateralsurface of a central bore 38 of re hub, the inclination of these finsand grooves being =lected such that one rotation of the spindle 18 inits norlal direction of rotation (arrows F of FIGS. and 2) nds to engagethe fins 34 in the grooves 36, that is to say I draw the hub 22downwards. To obtain such an autotatic engagement of the hub 22 on thespindle 18 as soon i the appliance is started, and equally to ensurethat this 1th cannot fly off the spindle 18 during operation in any tse,the angle of inclination of the fins and grooves 34 1d 36 to thevertical should lie between 20 and 40, 1d preferably between 25 and 35.For example, if the ab 22 and the fins 34 are made of a plastic materiallch as Nylon, an angle of approximately 30 is parcularly appropriate.

As will be seen from FIGS. 1 and 5, the hub 22 is )rmed by a singlecomponent of plastic material, and the lades 24 and 26 are fastened tothis hub by overmould- 1g this component on the blades duringproduction. This ub has an upwardly directed projection 40, forming atanipulating handle.

The blades 24 and 26 extend in opposite directions from 1e hub 22. Theblade 24 is situated in a plane close to te bottom of the bowl, whereasthe blade 26 is situated l a plane which is offset upwards relative tothe plane E the blade 24. The sharpened active edge 42 of each lade(FIG. 2) is angled rearwards on the radius relave to the direction ofrotation and has two reactilinear :ctions 44 and 46 joined by a curvedsection, the outer :ction 44 being more extensively angled rearwardsthan 1e inner section 46. This form assures satisfactory peneation ofthe blades into the material to be minced.

The span of the blades, measured from tip to tip, is E the order ofnine-tenths of the internal diameter of the owl 10. It will be noted inthis connection that too ."eat a radial extension of these blades wouldresult in tcessive load on the motor, specifically when the apliance isused to process tough meats, or would require pplication of a motor of asize incompatible with the impact nature of the appliance. On the otherhand, if [686 blades are too short, the mincing work is not perrmed insufliciently uniform manner, and a Span equal approximately nine-tenthsof the diameter of the bowl ssures adequate uniformity of the mincingwork, without owever imposing excessive load on the motor.

The inner lateral face of the bowl comprises a lower :ction 48 which hasgrooves or flutes 50 extending vercally, and which extends from thebottom 20 up to a :vel 52 situated above the plane of the upper blade26, well as a smooth upper section 54 which extends up the top edge 56of the bowl. The inner face of the cover 2 has two circular webs or fins58 and 60 concentric 'ith the axis of the cover and of the bowl.

The flutes of the lower section 48 of the inner face of 1e bowl have thefunction of braking the material to e minced, which within the workingspace tends to spin t the same speed as the blades, thus causing it toremain l engagement with the blades. The smooth section 54 as ell as thewebs 58 and 60 of the cover on the contrary llow the material to beminced to circle freely in the uper part of the bowl without sticking tothe side, and thus romote its return into the range of action of theblades. As is apparent in FIG. 1, the driving assembly 16 omprises anelectric motor whose axis extends horizonally, followed by a gearbox 64whose vertical output pindle forms the driving spindle 18 of theblade-carrier ub 22. The motor 62 is a motor of universal type turnig athigh speed, The gearbex 64 contains a speed reduc- .on mechanism adaptedto reduce the speed of the spinle 18 o a value lying between 3,000 and8,000 revolutions per minute, when operating respectively under fullload, and without load.

To ensure safe operation of the appliance in this embodiment, theelectric supply to the motor 62 depends on the application of the cover12 on the bowl 10. To this end, the supply circuit of the motor 62includes in series two switches 66 and 68 whose actuating knobs or keys70 and 72 are housed at diametrically opposed points in the bottom of anarrow annular cavity 74 formed between the centering partition 32 ofthe bowl and a second cylindrical partition 76 adjacent thereto andextending from the stand 14, whereas the cover 12 close to its edge hasa downwardly extending cylindrical skirt 78- adapted to engage in thecavity 74 and to operate the keys 70 and 72 when the cover 12 is placedon the bowl 10. Each switch comprises two blades 80 and 82 (FIGS. 1 and5) each carrying a contact and being upwardly directed from aninsulating bracket 84 internal to the stand 14; the blade 82 is flexibleand has an upper extremity outwardly inclined relative to the verticaland forming the key 70 or 72 housed in the bottom of the cavity 74 forreception of the descending skirt 78 of the cover 12. The lower edge ofthis skirt itself has an inclined profile adapted to slide in contactwith and actuate the keys 70 and 72 when the cover is placed inposition, thus causing the flexible blades 82 to bend towards the fixedblades 80, and causing the switches to close.

The housing cavity 74 of the switches 66 and 68 also contains threereturn springs 86, 88 and 90' (FIG. 2) adapted to repel the skirt 78 ofthe cover upwards. The stifiness of these springs is such that theweight alone of the lid 12 when placed on the appliance, is insufiicientto deflect the springs enough to enable the skirt 78 of the cover tooperate the actuating keys 70 and 72 of the switches.

Since the closing of the switches 66 and 68 depends on the placing inposition of the cover on the bowl, the operator does not risk injury byplacing the hand on the blades during their rotation. In addition, owingto the fact that there are two switches, it will be understood that thejamming of one of them by accident in its closed position does notjeopardise the safety of the appliance. Moreover, owing to the fact thatthese switches are widely separated, one is certain that a child cannotbe injured if it manipulates the switches by means of tools or otherobjects, since it must use both hands to do so.

Owing to the presence of the springs 86, 88 and 90, the operator must,in order to ensure the starting of the appliance, not only place thecover on the bowl, but must also exert a certain pressure thereon. Onethus has the assurance that the cover will be held firmly on the bowlduring operation of the machine thus preventing it from being flungupwards owing to impact against the 1ijnner face of the cover of thematerials contained in the owl.

The bowl 10 and the blade-carrier hub 22 are easily removable, whichfacilitates their cleaning. Refitting the blade-carrier hub in positionon its driving spindle does not entail any difficulty: in point of fact,it is unnecessary for the housewife to push the hub home on the spindlesince, by virtue of the inclination of the coupling ramps or fins 34,this hub is engaged automatically and correctly on the fins as soon asthe appliance is started. In addition, there is no risk of this hubflying off the driving spindle during the operation of the appliance.

It will be noted that the arrangement of the motor 62 shelters it fromslight leaks of water or other liquid which could occur around thespindle 18. It will be noted in this connection that a sealed passagehas been arranged at the point at which the spindle 18 passes throughthe stand, but that on the contrary no sealing is provided at the pointat which the spindle 18 passes through the bottom of the bowl, whichdoes not raise any difficulties since the materials to be minced containpractically no liquid.

As illustrated in FIGURE 6, the invention makes provision for the cover12 to form a mould intended to shape croquettes from the substanceminced by means of the appliance: to this end, the circular web 58 ofthe cover has been extended to a sufiicient height for the compartmentit surrounds to contain the amount of substance intended to form acroquette, whereas the mould thus formed is associated with a base plate92 and a pressure plate 94, both being circular and adapted to engage inthis compartment. To facilitate production, the plates 92 and 94 areidentical.

As shown in FIGURE 7, the bowl may itself form a croquette mould. It isco-ordinated with a base plate 96 and a pressure plate 98.

What is claimed is:

1. A mincing machine comprising a working bowl of generally cylindircalshape closed by a removable cover and supported on a stand containing adriving assembly having an output spindle which passes through thecentral area of the bottom of the bowl and rotatably drives a hub withinthe bowl carrying at least one sharpened blade, characterized in thatthe blade-carrying hub is formed as a single component of moldablematerial, said at least one blade being fastened to the hub byovermolding the hub thereon during production.

2. A mincing machine as claimed in claim 1, the bladecarrying hub beingdrivingly connected to the output spindle by helical splines on thelaterial surface of the spindle engaging with correspondingly shapedclearance grooves in the surface of a central bore of the hub, the pitchof said splines and grooves being such that one rotation of the spindlein its normal direction of rotation fully engages the splines in thegrooves.

3. A mincing machines as claimed in claim 1, in whch the sharpened edgesof said at least one blade are angled 6 rearwardly on the radiusrelative to the direction of IO- tation.

4. A minicing machine as claimed in claim 3, in which said sharpenededges comprise two substantially rectilinear sections connected by acurved section, the outer section being more extensively angledrearwardly than the inner section.

5. A mincing machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the radial extentof each blade is equal to approximately 9/ 10th of the internal radiusof the bowl.

6. A mincing machine as claimed in claim 13, in which the inner lateralface of the bowl comprises a lower section which has vertically directedfiuting and which extends from the bottom up to a level situated abovethe plane of the upper blade, and a smooth upper section that extends upto the top edge of the bowl.

7. A mincing machine as claimed in claim 1, said cover having at leastone downwardly depending circular web on its under side concentric withthe axis of the cover and of the bowl.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,480,914 1/ 1924 Poplawski259-108 2,028,595 1/ 1936 Flegel 259-108 3,093,982 6/1963 Staeger 64113,139,917 7/1964 Elmore 146-68 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,386,353 12/1964 France.

835,167 5/1960 Great Britain.

W. GRAYDON ABERCROMBIE, Primary Examiner

